The Glacier, the Ocean, and Fresh Spring Rain
by DemonClowSorceress
Summary: It takes distance, guilt, a wake-up call, and heartbreak to truly bring them together. Because let's face it, ice needs water in order to exist. GrayxJuvia. Rated T for implied character death. COMPLETE!
1. The Glacier

_****Blanket disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail, the characters, manga, or anime. I just wanna play with the characters in this storyline, which is mine, and I'll put them back, I promise.****_

**The Glacier - In a fight against a Dark Guild, Juvia is captured for a nefarious purpose. Can Gray rescue her before her powers are used against him and Fairy Tail?**

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><p>There was a hell on earth, and Juvia Lockser was in its heart right now.<p>

She was sealed inside an unbreakable lacrima sphere on the rooftop of the Dark Guild Horned Demon, completely cut off from her nakama as they fought the Demons below. The Dark Guild had moved to hold a city hostage, and Fairy Tail had been dispatched to take them out. Unfortunately, as they had moved in to start fighting, Juvia had been seperated from the main group of Natsu, Lucy, Erza, Gray, and Wendy. Sometime between then and now, she'd been knocked unconscious and put in this spherical lacrima.

Juvia frantically beat against the smooth surface of her prison, but it just absorbed her blows without giving an inch. Beneath her, Fairies and Demons clashed everywhere, circles of magic bursting along the far-away ground in blips of color. _Juvia has to get out of here,_ she thought. _Juvia must help Fairy Tail and Gray-sama!_

"Water Cane!" she shouted. Canes of water formed at her fingertips and slammed into the lacrima. But there wasn't even a dent or crack. Gritting her teeth, Juvia swept her arms wide. "Water Slicer!" Blades of water struck the same place, but not a scratch was made. "Water Jigsaw!" she screamed, using both arms. Still no effect. She sank to her knees, panting heavily. "What is this? Why can't Juvia break it?"

A dark chuckle drew her attention to the man standing in the shadows of the room. "Because that lacrima was made to contain you, my lovely." He stepped forward and smiled fondly at her. "As I live and breathe. Juvia Lockser, Juvia of the Deep, the Ame-Onna of Phantom Lord."

Juvia flinched at the last title. _Ame-Onna...rain woman... _"What do you want with Juvia?"

He bowed to her. "I am merely a collector of rare and powerful talents, Miss Juvia. And you are one of those I have been searching for." A creepy grin touched his mouth. "The Ame-Onna of Phantom Lord, one of the Element 4, Juvia of the Deep...if you were to join my legion of Demons, we could crush these insignificant Fairies and all those other pansy Guilds!"

The blue-haired water mage glared daggers at him as her rage rose. "You want Juvia to betray Fairy Tail...to betray her nakama...to betray her beloved Gray-sama?" Her body began to morph into boiling water as she grew even angrier. "Juvia would rather die!" she screamed.

Her captor spoke carelessly. "If I can get what I want."

Above them, the sky began to darken and lightning crashed.

* * *

><p>"Oh look, it's starting to rain," remarked Gajeel with a cocky grin as he puched a couple Demons aside with his Iron Dragon's Club. "We all know what that means."<p>

Gray looked up at the angry-looking sky. "Yeah, Juvia's pissed." Searching the clouds, he spotted the darkest patch and the heaviest downpour on the roof of Horned Demon's guild. "She's up there." Using Ice Make, he blew away the group of Demons that had surrounded him. "We better go get her before she drowns us along with the enemy."

Natsu cackled as he kicked a slew of enemies aside. "Somebody must've bad-mouthed you pretty harsh, snowflake!"

_Or she overreacted, _Gray thought, glancing up again. _But why hasn't she joined the fight? _Sighing, he yanked on his shirt and started walking towards the guild building.

Twenty minutes and not a few fights later, Gray was freezing the doors to the roof and kicking them to bits. "Oy," he said to Holden, the leader of Horned Demon. "I'm here for Juvia. Give her back."

"Gray-sama!"

He turned at the sound of her voice. Juvia was trapped inside a sphere of lacrima, her body halfway into its Sierra form of boiling water. But she wasn't angry. On the contrary, Gray was shocked to see a look of pure terror on the normally calm woman's face.

"You see, Gray-sama," said Holden, a mocking tone as he repeated the -sama, "I've kept my eye open for a chance to claim the Ame-Onna of Phantom Lord. When I heard she had joined Fairy Tail, I was shocked. How could she waste such talent working for a spineless guild?"

"What are you doing to her?" Gray demanded.

Holden smirked. "I'm forcing her to choose. That lacrima was designed for two purposes. The first is to control her power over the rain."

Gray narrowed his eyes at Holden. "You're making it rain, not her."

"Exactly." He seeemed perversely pleased by it. "It will drown you pathetic Fairies in no time."

"Not if I break her out first!" Gray slammed a fist into his palm. "Ice Make: Lance!"

Holden quickly retalitated with some sort of explosion magic. The ice mage ducked and dodged, using his lances and swords and stars in an effort to knock this fool down and save Juvia. He knew firsthand how strongly Juvia's power over the weather was; if it continued to rain like this, it would become dangerous for the others to continue fighting.

Finally Gray managed to get a clear shot at Juvia's prison. Another Ice Make Lance cast, and a pillar of sharpened ice shot across the way towards the lacrima -

"Gray-sama, no!"

Her panicked scream made Gray come up short; the lance froze, inches from hitting the shell.

Holden made a 'whoops' gesture with his hand. "Did I forget to mention? The other property of the lacrima is to keep the water inside at the same state. As soon as she began to boil, she was on the clock."

The Ice Make mage's eyes widened. _Boiling water...oh no! _Looking back at Juvia, he saw that there was less water in there than before. "She's evaporating!"

"Exactly!" Holden clapped his hands lazily. "That she is. I control what state her watery self will be when the lacrima breaks...provided she chooses the right answer."

"Juvia said it before, and Juvia means it!" shouted the water mage. "Juvia would rather die than betray Gray-sama or Fairy Tail or Juvia's nakama!"

Her words strengthened Gray's resolve. "You really don't know the power of Fairy Tail, Holden," he said. "Let me educate you!" He held out his arms and shouted, "Freeze!"

Ice instantly covered the entire rooftop. The rain instantly froze into tiny, delicate snowflakes that floated to the ground. Holden's smirk was frozen beneath two inches of solid ice, as was the rest of his body. Gray waited a bare second to make sure he was frozen before sliding over to Juvia's lacrima prison. "Juvia! Juvia, you all right?"

Through the ice-frosted lacrima he could see her blue hair bobble in a nod. "Juvia is fine, Gray-sama," she replied. "Juvia is no longer boiling!"

"Good. I'll get you out in a second, Juvia." He cast Ice Make: Sword and drew back like a baseball player at bat. "Get back."

But before he could break the lacrima, his ice sword was blasted out of his hands. Gray whirled around to see Holden standing in a steadily growing circle of melted ice. "Impressive. You turned rain to snow. But you didn't do much more than that." He brushed off the broken remains of his ice shell from his sleeves. "I expected more from the student of Ur."

Gray felt the familiar rage at someone bad-mouthing his former teacher. "I'll show you just what she taught me!" he roared. "Ice Make: Lance!"

* * *

><p>Juvia could see the battle from inside her frozen prison. Holden continued to taunt Gray, who was slowly expending his magical energies while only superficially wounding his enemy. <em>Juvia has to help! <em>she thought desperately. _Juvia must help Gray-sama!_

She looked around. The lacrima was frozen solid, and if hanging around Gray had taught her anything, aside that he was an incredible man who she believed was perfect and wonderful and loving and - _focus Juvia, focus! _she scolded herself - anyway, she had learned that things had a tendency to break easier when they were frozen. Especially things that were previously very difficult to break. Drawing herself up, she cried out, "Water Slicer!" and let loose a barrage of water.

Cracks appeared in the icy shell, and her water returned to her body. Delighted, Juvia kept it up until she had nearly sliced her way through the whole thing. With a last Water Cane, she blasted the hated lacrima away. _Juvia hates that thing! _she thought before looking around for Gray and Holden.

She saw them near the opposite edge of the rooftop, down to blasts of light and ice. Gray was hunched behind his Ice Make Shield as Holden continued to pound at his defenses. Juvia quickly made use of the ice still remaining to slide across the roof as fast as she could. "Water Cane!" she shouted, aiming her attack at Holden.

He managed to jump back, swearing as the water mage skidded to a halt beside Gray. "I see you've managed to join this fight, Ame-Onna," he said with a sneer. "Very well."

"She's not called Ame-Onna!" replied Gray hotly. "Her name is Juvia!"

Juvia stared at him with hearts in her eyes. _Gray-sama has stood up for Juvia! Juvia knew this day would come! Now he will clasp Juvia's hands and declare his undying love for Juvia - _

"Juvia, move!" She pulled herself back to reality as a blast of magic headed right for them. Together Gray and Juvia jumped backwards to evade it, but in their haste, they made a grave mistake. They stepped almost to the corner edge of the rooftop. The ocean crashed over the rocks hundreds of feet below them, making both mages gulp in panic at their close brush with death.

"Two little fairies, trapped by a demon," Holden crooned, conjuring another ball of light in his hand. "Oh, whatever shall the fairies do? Foolish fairies of ice and water, they can't fly away."

Gray put his arm protectively in front of Juvia, but the blue-haired mage didn't react. Her eyes were watching Holden, waiting for his move. She already knew what she had to do.

Holden fired. Juvia put her hand on the small of Gray's bare back and shoved hard, morphing her body into water and catching the bolt of magic in a cocoon of water in her abdomen. She threw a triumphant smile at Holden. "Your magic doesn't hurt Juvia! Juvia is stronger than any demon!"

The enemy smirked, then raised a hand. "Explodia," he said, snapping his fingers.

Gray recognized the spell. Flipping over, he gaped in horror as her smile became confused. "Juvia!" he shouted, getting to his feet.

She looked at him, then down at her abdomen. Or, now, the roiling mass of magic that was threading its way through her watery body. She looked up, and Gray saw a familiar expression on her face. For a brief moment, he was a child again, watching Ur become the fodder for Iced Shell to contain Deliora. It made him hesitate.

"Good bye, Gray-sama," she whispered. "Juvia is happy...that Juvia met Gray-sama. Now Juvia can...go..."

"Juvia, no!" he screamed as Juvia, her smile serene, burst into thousands of water droplets and disappeared. "Juvia! JUVIA!"

Holden chuckled as the ice alchemist sank to his knees. "Poor girl. Explodia is always fatal to water mages; it's broken her into such bits that she'll never return to herself. A pity - I was so looking forward to welcoming the Ame-Onna to my guild...and now she's gone."

_She's gone. _Those two words echoed in Gray's head over and over, a taunt of his weakness, of his failure, of his inability to keep one promise. _She's gone. She's gone. She's gone._

_Just like Ur. She died to save you, _another voice, tiny and vicious, spoke in a dead tone. _And it's all your fault._

Suddenly, an incredible amount of magical energy filled the air. It pressed against Holden, almost making the mage choke on the air as he saw a light blue aura surround Gray's body. The ice mage's magic seal appeared beneath him on the ground, glowing brighter than it had before. Holden's eyes widened as he felt the overwhelming magical power start to tremble. "Wait, what are you - "

Ice instantly covered the rooftop, and this time, Holden was dead before he realized what had happened. Ice continued to form, blanketing the stone and the banners and every other flat surface.

"JUVIA!" Gray screamed, throwing his head back in anguish. Ice geysers shot up towards the heavens, as if the crystal fingers were begging the clearing rainclouds to give her back to him.

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><p><strong>Ahh! No, Juvia! <strong>

**But wait, could it be...yes, this story is not complete yet! Keep a weather eye open for the next chapter, and while you wait, review!**


	2. The Ocean

**The Ocean: After failing to save Juvia, an inconsolable Gray has retreated to a prison of his own design and cut off all contact with Fairy Tail. But is Juvia really gone for good?**

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><p><em>Where is Juvia?<em>

She felt nothing. Not her body, or her heart, or her breath. Her mind felt disconnected, floating in a darkness that she couldn't fully explain.

_Is Juvia dead? _she wondered. She remembered the feel of Explodia inside her body, the look on Gray's face when she said goodbye, a split second of agony, and then...nothing. _Perhaps Juvia is dead. That would explain Juvia not being able to feel Juvia's body._

_**You're not dead, little raindrop. **_

The water mage started. _Who is speaking to Juvia?_

**_Open your eyes, little raindrop._**

Juvia obeyed - and saw nothing but blue. A deep, clear, endless expanse of blue that surrounded and enveloped her, holding her effortlessly as she floated through the cool depths. She looked around in awe and wonder. _Where is Juvia? _she wondered.

**_You took quite a hit, little raindrop, _**said the mystery voice. It sounded female, and caring, and warm. **_I was worried when you first fell, but now you seem much better. No, don't try to move too much, _**it chided when Juvia tried to sit up. **_You're still not completely yourself._**

Juvia looked down - and saw that most of her body was gone. Raggedy water-edges of her upper torso and one arm to her elbow were all that remained. _What happened to Juvia? Why isn't Juvia dead? _she thought, aghast that she had managed to recover from Explodia.

**_Because you fell into the ocean. Water helps water recover, isn't that so, little raindrop?_**

_Juvia is in the ocean? _It suddenly occured to Juvia that she wasn't actually speaking aloud to this mysterious disembodied voice. Could it be that this person-being could hear her thoughts?

**_How else can I communicate with you? It's not like you're able to speak anyway._**

Surprisingly, Juvia found that her voice was gone. _Juvia is confused. Who is speaking with Juvia? _she thought-said.

A long pause answered her. She was about to give up when the voice said, _**Who I am...It is hard to answer that question. You may call me Oceania.**_

_Oceania, _repeated the water mage. _Juvia is Juvia. _She looked around. _So, Juvia is in the ocean?_

**_Yes, _**replied Oceania. **_You were near death, little raindrop. I've taken you to a place where the rain falls, and you're slowly recovering._**

Juvia looked up, and she could see the dark swirls of ever-familiar rainclouds above the surface of the water, rippled and broken by the falling of raindrops. _Juvia must return to Fairy Tail. They must be worried about Juvia, _she said to Oceania. _When can Juvia go home?_

**_It will take some time, little raindrop, for your body to recover. More rain, much more than here can provide, _**said Oceania. **_But never fear. I will help you. But in return, will you do me a small favor?_**

She sounded a little hesitant, and a little hopeful. The blue-haired woman felt her curiosity blossom. _What can Juvia do?_

Oceania sounded almost fond, and sad, and definitely lonely. **_Perhaps...you would care to see what I have seen? Maybe it will help pass the time._**

_Juvia would be happy to oblige, _said Juvia. _What will Juvia be watching?_

* * *

><p>It had been three days since the fight with the Horned Demon Dark Guild. Three days since Juvia disappeared.<p>

Three days since any Fairy had seen Gray Fullbuster.

When the rooftop had exploded with Ice Make, Natsu, Lucy, and Happy had immediately rushed to their nakama's aid. They found the rooftop had undergone a second Ice Age, Holden frozen dead under a solid foot of ice, and Gray sitting catatonic within his Ice Make: Prison. Natsu had melted the Prison and hauled Gray onto his back, and the team quickly regrouped with the rest of the mages of Fairy Tail. Nobody could find any trace of Juvia aside from the emblem that had adorned her shawl, which Lucy had found cradled in Gray's hands.

When they arrived back at the guild, Gray seemed to come out of it. But instead of being his usual calm self, he lost it. He screamed that he'd failed, that Juvia was dead because of him. He overpowered Natsu, Erza, even Master Makarov, and bolted for the basement. Once there, his ice magic turned the entire room into a frozen cave and he sealed himself inside. Not even Natsu's flame could get through; it was as if Gray's grief had given his ice the power to defy all laws of magic and nature.

Gray had yet to emerge from his ice cavern. Everybody was becoming increasingly worried about their resident ice alchemist. So Master Makarov sent a communication to Lamia Scale and asked for Lyon Bastia's help. If anyone would have an idea about how to break through Gray's arctic fortress, it would be a fellow student of Ur.

Lyon arrived in a day, bringing his partner Shelly Blendi with him. The situation was quickly explained, and Lyon was taken to the ice-clogged basement door. Natsu and Lucy, the latter heavily bundled and huddling next to the furnace-warm Dragonslayer, watched from the steps as Lamia Scale's ice mage examined the ice blocking the doorway to Gray. He poked it, stabbed it, even sniffed it. He broke off a piece and watched it regrow. Ice crystals formed in his white hair as he took an hour, then two, and three to do nothing but stare at the wall of ice.

"There's nothing I can do," he announced to the rest of the guild. Sherry handed him his shirt and jacket (which had been shed sometime during the three hours) which he pulled back on. "His magic's on autopilot; it's protecting him from everything. Whatever's going through his head, he doesn't want anyone else near him."

"There has to be something we can do," Erza insisted. "Why don't you just break down the wall?"

Lyon shook his head. "No. If I try that in his state, he'll think it's an attack, fight back, and won't even know it's me. He'll kill me without a thought, and he'll kill you all too." His words had a chilling effect on everyone present. "Nakama or no, you break through that wall and you'll find out just how powerful Gray's unconscious ability is. I was pushing it, and I didn't even try to break through."

"Then what can we do?" screamed Natsu angrily. All traces of his rivalry with Gray had disappeared, replaced with panic and fear that he could lose his nakama.

The white-haired ice mage glanced at Sherry. "Do you think you can use Doll Magic and take control of the ice inside the cavern to find out what's going on?"

She swallowed. "I think so. I'll need a piece of - " Wordlessly Lyon handed her the piece of ice he broke off the wall. "Oh. Okay." Sherry bit her lip. "Lyon, can you come with me?"

He sighed. "Oh, all right. Everybody has to stay up here," he said to Makarov. "No sudden movements, no fight, _no noise_. If Sherry's to do this safely, we can't startle Gray. He'll attack indiscriminately."

Makarov nodded his understanding. "Good luck," he told the Lamias as they descended the steps.

It was the stillest Fairy Tail had ever been before. Not even Cana drank, physically willing herself to stay at her seat and away from any jugs of temptation. It was as if the entire building held its breath, awaiting the fate of its resident ice mage.

Two hours later, they returned with startling news. Shelly had formed an Ice Doll with her magic and put a communication lacrima in its eyes to see what it saw, then Lyon broke the door open to allow it to enter the cavern. The doorway re-sealed with ice, so they watched the doll's progress on their end of the lacrima.

They had seen Gray huddled in the corner of the basement, and they were startled to see him swathed in clothes; Lyon had thought he'd strip down to nothing, not bundle up like a normal person. A collection of ice statues stood around him like a museum of white marble. Every statue was of Juvia, each with a different expression on her frozen face. As they watched, Gray shuddered, pounded his fist into his palm, and Ice Maked another Juvia statue with a different expression from all the others.

Learning more was impossible. As she tried to make her doll approach Gray, a lance of ice had shot from the wall and almost impaled Sherry. Thankfully Lyon deflected it, but he knew it was over. Deciding to get out while they could, Sherry had broken her spell and retreated with Lyon.

Makarov nodded. "He's recreating his guilt," he mused. "He did this for a time when he came here after losing Ur. He locked himself in his room and made ice replicas of her. But this is a much more extreme reaction."

"How'd he recover from that?" asked Lucy.

Natsu jerked his thumb at Erza. "She broke every statue, said to stop being a baby and told him to put on some clothes."

Lyon nodded, feeling a pang of guilt as he recalled his former hatred of his fellow student during that time. "She must have meant a lot to him, this Juvia," he said aloud. "He has almost twenty statues of her, each with a different expression on her face. And he's still making more."

"He really cared about her," said Natsu with a bit of wonder. "I thought he thought she was annoying."

Makarov shook his head. "Sometimes we don't realize how much a person means to us until they're gone," he said sagely.

"How can we help him?" asked Lucy, looking at Lyon.

But the Sub-Zero Emperor had no answer for her.

* * *

><p>She knew that she was being moved all over the ocean, searching for fresh rain that could be used to recover her form. But Juvia had lost track of time as she watched Oceania's memories.<p>

They were very strange for a being of the ocean, for they were all from the point of view of a human being. All happened on land, in snow-covered lands, and starred a pair of spiky-haired boys, one white, one dark. It had taken Juvia a few memories to realize that the dark-haired boy was Gray, and that she was watching memories of her beloved Gray-sama as a child.

Obviously, she fangirled when she found this out. But that lasted only for a few minutes. The memories were nothing to be squealing at. She watched him relate his wish for revenge against Deliora, watched him learn Ice Make alongside his white-haired friend, watched how his unconscious stripping habit formed, and how he slowly became an ice mage.

She watched him challenge the demon who killed his parents. She watched him fall in defeat. She watched as Oceania stepped forward, defended him, and sacrified herself to save him and his friend.

_Just like Juvia did, _she thought.

Oceania spoke. **_I had to stop Deliora that day, so I used a spell I knew I could never recover from. I had to protect my cute students. And when he came back to fight Deliora again, I was there. I watched Gray and Lyon fight over this choice of mine, watched how well they'd grown - and I felt so proud of them._**

_You are Ur, _said Juvia suddenly. The thought had come to her earlier, and the more she thought about it, the more sense it made. _You taught Gray-sama about Ice Magic. You were the one who made Gray-sama great enough to save Juvia._

**_He learned so much more after joining Fairy Tail, _**replied the former ice mage modestly. **_Gray-sama, eh? Bet he squirms at that. He was never one for adoration._**

_Maybe Juvia will drop the -sama, _Juvia mused. She looked down at her body and was pleased to see that, aside from some fingers and the lower part of her left leg, she was almost completely recovered. _Juvia must go back now, _she said. _Juvia has to show Gray-sa...Gray that Juvia is all right now. Can you take Juvia back to Fairy Tail now?_

Ur seemed to hesitate. **_Little raindrop, may I ask another favor?_**

_What is it, Ur?_

**_Could you tell Gray...tell him I'm proud of him? That he's come so far, and that I'm so glad that he didn't throw his life away to fight Deliora_**.**_ Tell him that...that..._**

Juvia smiled when Ur stumbled over her words. She knew exactly what she wanted to say; Juvia had wanted to say the same words for many months. _Of course Juvia will tell him, _she promised.

**_Then hold onto yourself, little raindrop, and let's go!_**

Juvia barely held back a shocked scream as she was carried across the ocean in one of the strongest currents, heading back towards Magnolia, Fairy Tail...and home.

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><p><strong>Go Juvia go!<strong>

**Review please! One more part to go!**


	3. Fresh Spring Rain

**So, response to The Ocean was fantastic! I'm so glad you all liked it. **

**Here is the exciting conclusion to The Glacier, The Ocean, and Fresh Spring Rain!**

**Fresh Spring Rain - Fairy Tail is mourning the loss of its resident water mage and the withdrawl of its resident ice mage. But when something washes ashore near Magnolia, can the Fairies possibly regain their two precious nakama?**

* * *

><p>Evergreen raced back to Fairy Tail as fast as her high heels could carry her. Cursing her stupidity for not wearing her winged fairy dress - she could've used the flight speed - she ignored the stares of the citizens as she blazed by in a supremely undignified manner. When the guild came into sight, she cast Fairy Bomb: Gremlin and blasted the doors open without breaking stride. "Everyone! Wake up! HEY, WAKE UP EVERYONE!"<p>

Across the guild, mages woke up in various positions of discomfort. Since everyone was worried about Gray, nobody had left the guild since Lyon had failed to help. Some stretched under tables, some on benches, some on the stage or behind the bar. A couple curled up on chairs, while others just slept on the floor. But none of the nearly one hundred mages that made up Fairy Tail had gone home in three days.

So when the doors blew open and Evergreen started screaming her head off, let's just say everybody was grouchy and not very sympathetic. More than one person chucked some manner of drinking vessel at her, but they all missed. Even Elfman, normally very manly about being nice to her, shouted, "Ever! What unmanly reason do you have for screaming in an unmanly fashion this early in the morning?"

"What have I told you about saying that unmanly crap around me?" she screeched back, a reflex by now. "And anyway, that's not the issue here! I was down by the river to get some fresh supplies, and one of the fishermen told me that they found a woman with blue hair washed up on the shoreline!"

"So?" Natsu snarled angrily, sitting up with Lucy still clutching him sleepily. "What's that gotta do with us?"

Evergreen gave an indignant screech. "You ass! Because they said she has a blue Fairy Tail mark on her left thigh!"

The words sank into everyone's minds, then the sleepy clouds vanished. Only one member of thier guild had that particular color mark on that particular part of her body. Lucy sat up, her eyes wide with hope. "Juvia?"

"Yes, Juvia!" Evergreen whirled around and shouted louder, "Let's go get her!"

The result was immediate. All the Fairies got to their feet and bolted for the door, swamping the streets of Magnolia as they followed Evergreen's mad dash back to the shoreline. High above them were the Exceeds Happy, Charle, and Pantherlily, aloft and flying ahead to see for themselves. They made quite a sight, this crowd of powerful mages. Then again, they'd spent the last six days mourning Juvia as dead.

They saw her while still at a distance, donning a sleeveless threadbare shirt and skirt that was held together with thin blue strings. "Juvia is here!" she called, waving her arms happily.

The Exceeds all fluttered around her as the Fairies came up in a wave. Lucy and Levy and Wendy immediately bowled her over in a hug, while Mirajane and Erza began demanding where she'd been, how she was still alive, wasn't Explodia lethal to water mages? Others asked more questions, drowning each other out in words that all conveyed that they were glad, however befuddled, that she was still alive.

Gajeel merely looked over her to make sure she was all right, noting the lack of curl in her blue hair and the odd lack of her usual clothing. But when he got the chance, he spoke up. "Oy, Juvia."

She poked her head out of the mass of people who were still making sure she was really alive. "Yes, Gajeel?"

"You better hurry back to the guild. Stripper's in a bit of a mood."

As if she just realized it, Juvia looked around for the absent ice mage. "Where is Gray?"

Everyone present blinked, noting the blatant lack of -sama and squealing. Erza spoke up. "He's...well, he's in trouble. See, he thinks you're dead..."

"We all did," added Lisanna, wiping her eyes dry.

"But Juvia wasn't!" Juvia gasped, covering her hands with her mouth in horror. "Juvia didn't mean to - oh no, how long was Juvia gone?"

"Six days," Lucy said. "What on earth happened to you?"

"Juvia burst and fell into the ocean, but Juvia had to heal with rainwater. So Juvia - moved with the ocean's currents to find enough," she said. "Juvia must see Gray. Where is Gray now?"

"In the basement of Fairy Tail," said Mirajane. "Master Makarov stayed behind to watch out for him. Juvia, he needs to see you."

The water mage nodded, and with a speed not many people knew she possessed, she took off running back to the guild.

* * *

><p>Master Makarov tried to speak when he saw her, but Juvia paid no attention to him. Instead, she saw Lyon, who had also remained behind, and drew up short. "You are an ice mage like Gray, yes?"<p>

He nodded. "You're Juvia, huh? Didn't recognize you without the curls."

_How does he knew Juvia? _she spared a second to think before dismissing it. She absently patted her hair and noted its straightness. _Juvia will fix it later. _"Can you help Juvia reach Gray?"

Lyon silently followed her downstairs. She noted the dramatic drop in temperature instantly but didn't falter; although she was baring more skin than she was used to, she would weather any chill to help Gray. Seeing the wall of ice, she gestured to it. "Please break that. Juvia must get through."

"I'm warning you, he's changed," Lyon said, taking his stance. "He might not recognize you."

"Gray always knows Juvia. He will now Juvia now."

Lyon shrugged, then Ice Maked his eagles to break the wall down. Juvia quickly leapt through the hole as fresh ice formed to block it again, cutting her off from the outside and plunging the basement into semi-darkness.

The basement was completely transformed into a wintery ice cavern. Icicles dripped from the cieling, and stalagtites and stalagmites dotted the area. Juvia saw her breath fogging in front of her, icy clouds fanning from her face as she carefully stepped over the floor. Her bare feet could only feel ice everywhere; as an afterthought, Juvia activated her Sierra form. Her boiling water feet hissed as they melted puddles of ice into water and steam flowed over the surface of the ground. This also kept her warmer than she would have been in the skimpy borrowed clothes she wore.

As she walked deeper into the icy cavern, Juvia realized how Lyon, a complete stranger, had recognized her. Standing like a garish gallery were almost fifty statues of her, all donning her customary blue outfit and each bearing a different expression and posture. Juvia shuddered in a way unrelated to the temperature. _How strange..._

"Why won't you let me be?"

She jumped at the raspy voice. Peering through the gloom, she spied the huddled mass of black against the back wall. "Gray?" she asked, not sure if it was indeed the object of her affections.

"You're not real," said the huddled figure, shuddering. "Not real, she's not real..."

Juvia felt a pang of pain shoot through her heart. She'd never seen Gray look this guilty and broken before. Walking carefully, she stepped forward. "Gray..."

"Don't come near me!" he shouted. Ice shot up around him in a protective wall, spiked and dangerous.

Juvia paused, then took a second to think about her strategy. Obviously a direct approach was out of the question. She stopped boiling, and felt a violent shudder wrack her body as she truly felt the temperature in the room. Pushing her now-freezing hair back from her face, she cleared her throat and spoke softly so as not to alarm him. "Gray, it's Juvia. Juvia is alive. The Explodia did hurt Juvia, but Juvia landed in the ocean and was saved. Then Juvia had to find rain water to re-form Juvia's body quickly." He didn't respond. "Juvia is sorry that Juvia took so long, but Juvia is back now."

"Can't be..." Gray murmured in a heart-wrenching sob. "You're gone...please, leave me alone...you're not real...haven't you tortured me enough?"

"Juvia would never torture Gray." Slow, quiet steps brought her right up to the wall of ice that seperated her from the ice mage. Carefully, she shifted her hands to boiling water and pressed them to the wall. Ice hissed as her palms came in contact with it, melting in spurts and gushes of liquid.

Gray shrank away from the warmth. "No! Go away! No!"

"Juvia is not like Ur." The name of his old teacher made him freeze. "Ur could not come back, but Juvia did. Juvia is back. And Ur sent Juvia back with a message."

"Ur's - Ur is gone."

"Ur lives in the ocean." _Keep Gray talking, keep Gray talking, _she chanted in her mind, drawing his attention from her attempt to melt a hole through the ice. "Ur watches Gray, and Ur is proud. Ur told Juvia to tell Gray that Ur is proud of Gray. Ur is so glad that Gray didn't throw life away to seal Deliora, and Ur is so proud to have called you one of her students. Ur told Juvia to tell Gray...to tell Gray that Ur loves him." The last of the ice melted, letting Juvia scoot closer - just as more ice formed around her legs, freezing her from the waist down in the wall.

"I told you to stay away, dammit!" Gray shouted.

She didn't panic at the sudden entrapment. Instead she kept reaching for the hood of the parka he was wearing over his head. "Why?" she asked simply. "Why should Juvia stay away? Juvia has never wanted to stay away."

"You're dead...you're dead..." he choked out, shrinking away. "It's all...my fault..."

"No. Juvia wanted to protect Gray," replied the water mage. Her slim fingers grasped the hood and tugged it forward. Gray was pulled closer to her with little resistance; he was weak from constant magical use and no food for six days. "And Juvia did that. Juvia protected her nakama, and Juvia is still alive." When her nose was brushing the fur lining of the parka's hood, she reached underheath it and slid her fingers through Gray's silky black hair, pushing the hood back in the process. "See? Juvia is real."

His haunted eyes locked with hers, desperate and nearly mad with grief. "Prove it."

* * *

><p>Gray was completely sure this Juvia was just like all the others - a hallucination.<p>

He'd seen her ever since he got dragged back to Fairy Tail. He'd seen her everywhere, in his memories and in the guild and all around him. The whole building was suffused with her presence, and he couldn't bear to be near it. Not after what he'd done.

The basement had been his best choice. Sealing himself in was just an added precaution. But that hadn't stopped the hallucinations. She kept coming, shimmying through the icy depths of his self-made prison and cooing "Gray-sama," as she exploded over and over. Unable to block her out, Gray quickly fell to bundling himself with every article of clothing he could find in an effort to block out the sights and sounds of the world.

Once he found he could Ice Make the hallucinations frozen, Gray thought he was able to stop her from torturing him. But he was dead wrong. The fake Juvias stopped being the cute if annoying stalker he had known, and transformed into the helplessly trapped water mage he'd failed to save. She begged him to save her. She cursed him for breaking his promise. She screamed that he had killed her. She cried that he had abandoned her.

But he continued to freeze her into statues. He had to.

Despite confining himself to solitude, he couldn't bear being alone.

This most recent hallucination was markedly different from the others. For one, her hair was pin-straight, falling down to her elbows. For another, instead of Juvia's typical dress and shawl and hat, this Juvia wore a barely modest shirt and skirt that looked darned together with tiny ropes and was barefoot.

And she wouldn't _go the hell away._

Gray usually was able to shout loud enough to convince himself that he was seeing things. It helped, more than the Ice Make spell; plus, he was weak from creating so many statues without refueling. But this one was being incredibly stubborn, this threadbare and un-Juvia-like Juvia. She managed to convince him that she melted through his ice and through the wall he put up. So he froze her halfway in the wall.

But she kept coming closer, making him respond. Made him move forward towards her. Made his parka hood slide back. Almost - _almost_ convinced him that she was more than just a figment of his imagination.

So when the hallucination said that she was real, Gray couldn't stop the childish impulse to say, "Prove it."

She hesitated, looking aside and nibbling her lips an an adorable show of nerves. Gray watched fervently, knowing that she would do just what the others had done when he succumbed to giving that same order - shout about his failure, then explode. He ignored the small, treacherous part of his heart that _begged _and _pleaded _to whatever deities looked down on ice mages that she was real.

Because Gray was scared. Scared that he was finally, truly going insane. Because he could _swear _that he felt Juvia's fingers sliding through his hair as she revealed his face, _swear _he could still feel them as she framed his face with those small, soft hands. He came damn close to losing it after Ur died, and Erza hadn't known how close she'd come to walking in on an insane ice mage. Nobody did.

But if this truly wasn't real - Gray didn't think his mind could survive.

"Juvia - knows a way to prove Juvia is real," she said slowly. Beautiful eyes the color of the night sky met his matching orbs. "Please forgive Juvia's forwardness, Gray." Her fingers tightened on his face, and she pulled him closer as she stretched her body forward as far as she could.

Gray Fullbuster could swear by many things, and he would've sworn to any gods he believed in that nothing could convince his dead, frozen heart that she was real. But when their lips touched, a fire burst to life inside his chest that set his broken heart a-beating again.

_She's real. She's real. She's alive. Juvia's alive._

Around the mages, the ice began to melt at an accelerated rate. Juvia squeaked when his arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her from the crumbling wall. Gray just kept her crushed close to him, kissing her with all the emotions he'd felt in the last six days. Guilt. Wonder. Pain. Joy. Regret. Love.

Love?

_Yeah_, he thought as he felt her arms slide around his neck, her head angling to capture his lips while her eyes fluttered shut. Somewhere between the time she joined Fairy Tail as his full-time stalker and the last few days, Gray realized that he'd fallen in love with the quirky water mage. Buried beneath his irritation and nonchalance, he hadn't believed it to be anything more than the affection he held for all his nakama. Only when she'd been ripped from him did the true depth of his feelings become clear.

"Juvia," he whispered, breaking the kiss to whisper the name he thought he'd never be able to say again. "Juvia."

She smiled sweetly at him, brushing a kiss to his lips. "Juvia is here, Gray," she said.

He embraced her again, burying his face in her straight blue hair and inhaling that ever-familiar scent of lavender and fresh rain she seemed to emit. "I love you, Juvia," he mumbled against her skin, pressing a kiss to her neck right where her pulse thundered at his words.

Juvia took a steadying breath so that she didn't pass out in happiness. "Juvia - Juvia loves Gray as well," she gasped, holding him just as closely. She knelt there patiently, rubbing his back as the ice around them continued to melt. When he let her go, they stood up and stared at each other's clothes.

"Nice outfit," he remarked.

"Juvia borrowed it." She looked at his parka with distaste. "Juvia prefers you without that on."

Immediately Gray stripped it off, and after a thought, pulled off the coat, sweater, and shirt he wore underneath. The coat's sleeves he tied around Juvia's waist to cover her butt more, and he dropped the shirt over her shoulders. "Here. Let's get out of here."

"Juvia does not mind getting wet," replied the water mage with a wicked little smile.

Gray's eyes widened at the double meaning of her words, then his own smile turned predatory. She barely had time to squeal happily as the ice mage pulled her close again and covered her mouth with his.

* * *

><p>Outside, the sun shone as a light rain fell, making the raindrops sparkle like falling diamonds. Cana smiled as she flipped over the Lovers card on her bench. She gave it a smug look. "And the snow fox takes a bride."<p>

"What?" asked Macao over the noise of the celebrating guild.

"Nothing." She waved at Mirajane and slapped the side of her empty cask. "Oy! Bring me another one, Mira!"

* * *

><p><strong>Yay! Happy ending! With a little hint of smut... ;)<strong>

**Please review!**


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